Ghana's president has $3 million delivered to World Cup squad after boycott threat

Ghana’s hopes of advancing to the World Cup’s Round of 16 are not in the team's control. The Black Stars need to beat Portugal on Thursday and hope that either Germany or the U.S. wins its final match and then pray that the tiebreakers go in Ghana's favor.

But there was a chance that Thursday’s match could have been in trouble if not for the Ghanaian government stepping in.

Ghana’s players were upset that they had not been paid World Cup appearance fees and threatened to boycott their final group stage match on Thursday. According to a statement from the Ghana FA, President John Dramani Mahama stepped in and sent a plane to Brazil in order to appease the “agitation” among the squad.

“The players insisted that they will want physical cash,” Deputy Sports Minister Joseph Yammin said in comments broadcast by Accra-based Citi FM. “Government had to mobilize the money and a chartered flight to Brazil. The money is in excess of $3 million.”

The $3 million laid out by the government will be reimbursed by the money awarded to Ghana by FIFA. According to the AP, reports had put the individual player appearance fees between $75,000 and $100,000 for the tournament.